John Brown University senior Boaz Camp finished his final season with the Golden Eagles Men’s Basketball Team this spring, ending with an appearance in the first round of the Sooner Athletic Conference tournament. For his senior season, Camp averaged 2.1 points per game and 2.3 rebounds per game on 62.2% shooting from the field in 29 appearances. He also started the final home game of his career against Wayland Baptist, helping the Golden Eagles to a 75-72 overtime victory.
Camp grew up in Tulsa, Okla., and started playing basketball at the age of 8, when his parents first let him pick up a ball.
“I’d say I started playing just because the game seemed fun. It just intrigued me. The intensity, the pace changes, the skill involved,” Camp said.
However, his journey was not so straightforward. Camp battled injuries throughout his playing career and kept fighting.
“In seventh grade, I stretched my ligament so bad I was out for the rest of the season. I missed seventh-grade year, missed eighth-grade year. I had knee pain and I had to get arthroscopic surgery on both knees. And then my ninth-grade year, actually preseason scrimmages around that time, I had a crazy burn accident, and I caught on fire and I was out the whole year,” Camp said.
Camp was able to bounce back from those injuries and played from his sophomore year in high school to his senior year for Regent Preparatory Academy, averaging 15 points and nine rebounds per game. Despite his success in high school, Camp didn’t initially plan on continuing his career in college. However, his high school coaches pushed him to pursue playing after high school and he ended up at JBU.
Shortly after joining the Golden Eagles, Camp experienced a steep jump in competition from the high school level to the college level.
“It’s not even the same game, to be honest with you. I think every level you step up it’s a different sport entirely,” Camp said. “I think even small college basketball like [JBU], I mean, you can’t even set a high school and a college player side by side because one, the physical development with time for obvious reasons, and I feel like a lot of small college basketball athletes have a bulldog mentality there. It just puts high school players in the rear-view mirror. It’s not even close.”
Despite the tough learning curve to the increased speed of the game, Camp stayed tough and continued to improve his basketball IQ. Apart from on the court, in his time with the team Camp developed quality relationships with many members of the squad.
“I couldn’t speak highly enough of the whole team. I think it’s full of really solid dudes. Everybody’s figuring life out as it goes, and it is just cool to walk alongside that. My favorite memories have just got to be hanging out with the guys, going and getting food, post-game, hotels, there always good memories,” Camp said.
Though his time with the basketball team is over, Camp plans to pursue his MBA at John Brown through the 4+1 program provided by the Soderquist College of Business. After this, he is interested in pursuing a career in wealth management, or some area of finance. Through his time at JBU, Camp has learned many important things he plans to apply to his future life and relationship with God.
“Basketball, in particular, has built a reliance on identity in Christ. Basketball has also built a reliance on the concept from Matthew 6:33 and 34: to just seek first the kingdom of heaven and the rest will be answered. And don’t worry about tomorrow, because with performance anxiety, with athletics, there’s a lot there to unpack,” Camp said.
Going forward in life, Camp hopes to continue his basketball journey through other less competitive channels.
“I’m going to miss the really competitive aspect; I’m going to miss being in the locker room and just lacing up. Shoot down the road, I could see myself coaching my kids down the road. I could see myself just playing summer ball, just kind of messing around, getting shots up with friends. That’s all fun,” Camp said.
Camp plans to continue to seek first the Kingdom of Heaven while surrounding himself with other life-giving people as he moves on from JBU Basketball, yet his impact on and off the court will be well remembered.
“The summer before my freshman year, I was really nervous about transitioning into life at JBU. Boaz Camp reached out to me over the summer and essentially told me he was excited I was joining the team and looked forward to getting to know me. It was a simple gesture, but it made a massive impact on my outlook for school. Over the course of the year, Boaz continued to encourage me and everyone else on the team. He is a true leader and I am grateful for the opportunity to get to play alongside him,” former basketball teammate and John Brown sophomore Nash Wessels said.
Photo courtesy of Aidan Blanton
